Medical Students’ Perception Regarding Community Medicine as a Subject and a Career Option Amongst Medical Colleges of Lahore City

Abstract

Introduction: Community medicine is an integral part of the healthcare profession, and inculcates the knowledge and skills needed to solve health issues in society.
 Aims & Objectives: The objective of this study was to compare the perception of medical students about community medicine as a subject and as a career path between government and private sector colleges.
 Place and duration of study: The study was conducted at CMH Lahore Medical College and Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed AlNahyan Medical And Dental College for a dutration of 6 monthsfrom December 2021 till May 2022..
 Material & Methods: A comparative cross-sectional survey was conducted on fourth and final-year students from medical colleges in the private and public sectors. The survey was conducted through the “Google Forms” application through a self-made questionnaire with a sample size of 421. The survey consisted of three sections. Section one pertained to the demographic information, whereas section 2 and 3 pertained to the perception of community medicine as a subject and as a career, respectively. Data was analyzed using SPSS software version 25.0, P-value<0.05 was taken as significant.
 Results: Majority of participants in the study were females (59%). Half of the participants (50%) agreed that community medicine is related to health-related issues and the majority (40%) believed that it is integral for solving problems at a community level. However, most participants (57%) reported that they would not opt for community medicine as a career. The contributing factors were reported to be less fame (66%) and salary (61%).
 Conclusion: Students showed a good understanding and perception of community medicine as a subject. However, they are reluctant to pursue it as a career.